Focus Through The Body
> Drink Coffee:
there’s tonnes of research on the effects of coffee to get your body
moving, increase focus and clear your head. Time your coffee intake
sometime between when you first get up and midday, during the hours
where you want to be at your most productive. And just be sure not to
have too many coffees in the day or too late in the afternoon when it
will affect your sleep.
> Drink Water:
Your body weight is, on average, 45-75% made up of water. Water plays
so many roles in our body – moving nutrients around, helping our
internal organs, ensuring joint and cell health. You guessed it, it also
affects our ability to focus. Without enough water we’ll feel
light-headed, dizzy, nauseous, fatigued and can have headaches. the
recent study The Hydration Equation
showed that cognitive performance (concentration, memory, critical
thinking) declined significantly with mild dehydration (1-2% body water
loss).
> Take Vitamins: many
vitamins are now available to help focus and cognitive function. Whether
it’s a general multi-vitamin for overall health, or something
specifically formulated to assist focus (usually a formulation with
Ginkgo Biloba, Bacopa Monnieri Extract, Phhosphatidylserine, etc), these
may help focus. Be sure to consult your health professional to make
sure these vitamins are right for you.
> Eat Well:
some foods are better than others when it comes to focus. Fish (high in
omega-3 fatty acids and good for the brain), blueberries (and other
items high in anti-oxidants) and nuts all do great things for our mind.
Generally I would also say avoid processed and overly fatty foods. Much
is said about eating a decent breakfast but I’ve been experimenting with
both intermittent fasting and a good breakfast with eggs, and find I
have high focus on both (so long as I don’t do intermittent fasting in
the morning for more than a week days).
Focus through the mind
> Think Positively:
whether it’s being grateful for what we have or being proud of what
we’ve accomplished for the day, reinforcing our positivity helps focus.
Negative thoughts that repeat themselves, worrying what other people
think, and general anxiety…..all of these are distractions for the mind
that reduce our ability to concentrate. So make the act of reinforcing
positivity a deliberate act each day.
> Meditate: meditation is one of the most powerful things we can do to enhance focus. When
Tim Ferris interviewed over 100 people at the top of their game, he
discovered that they have one habit in common - meditation.
Recently an extensive study looking at the power of meditation on cognitive function found:
intensive and continued meditation is associated with enduring improvements in sustained attention, supporting the notion that the cognitive benefits of dedicated mental training may persist over the long-term when promoted by a regimen of continued practice.
> Sketch:
just like with this post, the very first thing I did was sketch my
format for this article. I find sketching ideas sharpens the mind
incredibly. It is also a way of engaging our body physically with the
content and material we’re trying to process. If I am struggling with
focus, sketching is one of my quick-fire ways to concentrate.
> Practice Focus: our ability to hold attention can be strengthened through practice. Much has been written on Quora about the Pomodoro Technique,
where focus is sustained for 25 minutes, with short breaks in between.
While the time in minutes is an effective period to hold concentration,
what I love about this technique is that it trains our mind to quickly
return to focus. Every time we practice the technique, we will get
better at it.
Focus Through Priority and Schedule
> Write Lists:
if we are carrying lists in our mind and trying to hold them in memory,
this creates mental noise and limits our ability to focus. Writing
lists of things we need to do is the best way to get these things ‘off
our mind’ and captured so that we can do whatever we need to do, later.
If you need some tips about how to capture what is in your mind, I
recommend David Allen’s book “Getting Things Done”.
> Track Time:
this may sound tedious but it’s incredibly powerful. The saying ‘what
gets measured, gets managed’ is true. I spent a whole week wondering
where my time was going and then did an audit of my computer use to find
that every twenty minutes I was checking social media and newspaper
websites. No wonder I wasn’t getting into focus! Now I make sure I also
track the times that I’m in focus, just so I know I’m performing with
high levels of concentration. In terms of how I eliminated social media,
that’s next….
> Block Time Sucking Sites:
I use Google Chrome and have the plugin “Block Site”. I’ve put all the
sites that usually devour my time into this tool, and then schedule it
so beyond certain hours, I have no chance of visiting them. I have to
tell you this has boosted my focus by at least 10x. Research suggests
that it takes the average person between 5 to 25 minutes to return to
intense concentration after being interrupted. So when we do a quick
check of social media, it’s not just the time we spend on social media,
it’s the time taken to return to the previous task we were doing. That’s
the real kicker!
> Prioritize:
spending more time on the important things and removing the unimportant,
unnecessary distractions from our days, is a great way to encourage
focus. To do this requires short bursts of concentration to think
through what we have coming up for the week and then to prriotize what
we’ll work on.
> Do Less:
successful entrepreneurs and elite athletes all realise that time is a
scarce resource. We simply cannot make more time….but we can use our
time more effectively. One of the best ways to do this, is quite simply doing less.
If we know our priorities for the week, it’s important we don’t
overstretch and also allow time for rest and recovery. Doing less
actually focuses us more on the fewer things we have to do and, in our
down time, allows our body and mind the opportunity to rest and recover
for what’s next.
> Magic Time: for
many people, their most productive hours of the day vary. My best time
is between 8am to 10am. During this period I have my best focus and burn
through work. Now I block out my calendar so this time is always
available for ‘deep work’ where I need to bring my A game. Whichever is
your best time during the day, use those hours to find your best focus.
I hope you found this useful and have a great day!